Militant gunned down in Kupwara operation

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 12

A Pakistani militant was killed on Thursday in the ongoing anti-militancy operation close to the Line of Control in the frontier district of Kupwara where an Army commando of the elite Special Forces was killed on Wednesday during a gunfight.

A massive combing operation has been underway since Tuesday at Menganwar in Kandi forest of Kupwara, over 100 km from Srinagar, after an input about militant presence. The Army and militants have exchanged fire several times since Wednesday morning. The Army said a militant was killed this morning during a gunfight in the forest area. “One terrorist has been killed. Weapons and war-like stores have been recovered. The operation continues,” said Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia.

The slain militant has been identified as a Pakistan national.

Around noon on Wednesday, an Army commando, Mukut Behari Meena of 3 Para, was killed when militants fired upon the search party. Meena (24) had joined the Army in 2011.

He belonged to Ladaniya village in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan and is survived by his wife and parents, the spokesman said. Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, said the Menganwar anti-militancy operation was in its last stages.

Army sources said launch pads across the LoC had scores of militants waiting to infiltrate. This year nearly 40 militants have been killed in gunfights close to the LoC in Kashmir. Except two, all gunfight have taken place in the frontier Kupwara district which is a key infiltration route for militants to sneak into the Valley.